Know Your Enemy
by Nikkel
Summary: One day at the office, Harry gets a peculiar visit from and old rival he knows is impossible to trust. . . . . Postseries, not slash, oneshot.


**Know Your Enemy  
**_By Nikkel  
_(c) to J.K. Rowling

* * *

The sky was dismally grey that day though Harry could not see the sky. He paused from the many pieces of parchment littered around his desk and glanced at the ceiling, sighing heavily. Despite the pumpkin-shaped lanterns floating above him, nothing could replace his longing for blue sky, though he knew it was raining out. It was one of the seldom things he missed about the Muggle world, where buildings were built up, not down, as was the Ministry of Magic.

He scratched his temple thoughtfully and focused back on his work: apparently he was to be dealing with another rogue Death Eater case, roaming the countryside and killing innocent people, Muggle and wizard alike. Usually, he would be hot on the Death Eater's trail, but whomever he or she was, was doing it very cleverly – it was difficult for Harry to keep track of him. He needed to get a hold of his own head and sit down and think.

Harry couldn't help but smile at the nostalgic voice of Hermione: _"Sit down and think! Letting your temper in the way has never solved anything!"_

It was while drawing up a map of the Death Eater's movements was there a knock at his door. Without even calling to see who it might be, the door swung open and in walked a tall, skeleton-like man, deftly covered in heavy black robes. His pointed face scanned the office, cold grey eyes perhaps searching for something suspicious. It was then that they landed on Harry.

"Fancy office here, _Potter_," Draco Malfoy sneered, without the slightest friendly inclination. Harry watched him carefully, setting down his quill, hand slowly crawling to the wand next to him. "Must be nice being head of the department, eh?"

"It's nice to see you too, Malfoy," Harry replied. "I didn't know they let gits like yourself be Aurors nowadays."

"Cut the teenage angst." Malfoy stopped wandering the room and sat down in a chair before Harry's desk.

"So we're going to have an actual conversation? Well Draco, I'd never expect such formality from you. Wouldn't you prefer to blow my head off?"

"I would, but I'm not allowed to do that. Blowing off the department head wouldn't look very well for my record, don't you think?"

Harry fell quiet – ever since Malfoy had taken up the job of an Auror, he had been capturing remaining Death Eaters and Dark wizards left and right. It was undeniably suspicious, and every instinct told Harry that Malfoy had ulterior motives. He always had ulterior motives. And as he was sitting in the chair in front of his desk right now, he was moving along with his plan, whatever it may be.

"Keep acting like you've got dragon balls and I'll have Kingsley remove your post," Harry threatened, hand now clutching his wand.

Harry could see that Malfoy had to visibly hold himself back. He bit his lower lip to catch the retort.

"Now," Harry said, watching as his old rival's face fell into its typical haughty expression. "What did you come here for?"

Draco opened his mouth, about to answer, and then closed it. He appeared to take an interest in Harry's office again, steel eyes drifting from the rusting Sneakoscope on the desk in front of him to the leather-bound book of a diary on the shelf from so many years ago. There were photos of Harry's friends nearly everywhere, and what was peculiar about these photos was that they all seemed to be moving, smiling and laughing along magically. A faded Gryffindor banner even hung on the wall behind Harry, the golden lion shimmering in the soft lamplight above their heads.

"I really do wonder what things would have been like if you were in Slytherin," Malfoy said. "We could have been friends."

Harry remained calm, listening to him.

"But I suppose then you wouldn't have saved my life," Malfoy continued. "You would have been some selfish moron that had let me die in the fire."

Harry was still quiet - in his mind's eye he flashbacked to that scene nineteen years ago, with the Fiend's Fyre enveloping the Room of Requirement, scorching and melting everything it touched. Ron found broomsticks for them and they had soared out of the place, and it had only been in the back place of Harry's mind that he had swooped down to help the poor Malfoy boy, trapped in the blaze. Why he had done such a thing for a boy he had hated for the bulk of his life at Hogwarts, he did not know. In fact, he still didn't know. For that boy had grown into a man, and still a nasty one nonetheless.

Finally, he came up with an answer. "You're welcome."

Draco did not smile nor frown. His face remained pallid.

Harry's brow furrowed. "Well? What else do you want from me?"

The tall wizard stood. "Nothing, Potter. It merely seems that you bring out the best in me. How's the family, by the way? Scorpious can already _Flipendo_. A natural dueler, I may say."

Harry continued to watch him for signs of threat. But Malfoy was dancing around his head again, like a monster playing with its food before he ate it. Harry caught onto this trecherous little game, and smirked. "Albus can _Expelliarmus _whatever _Flipendo _comes his way."

Draco grinned. "Good. I can't wait till school starts."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Wow. I would never think that I would write Harry Potter - mainly because I've never read the fanfiction or anything for it. I suppose with the 6th movie coming out and everything, a part of me has become interested in the HP universe again. I'm now reading the series backwards. And, well, I just had to get a scene like this out of my head.

Yes - an interesting theory of mine would be what would happen if Draco Malfoy became an Auror. He certainly seemed to excel in school just as much as Harry, and be capable of great amounts of magic. While he has been a Death Eater and your typical bad guy in the past, I see nothing wrong with him trying to switch sides (or as Harry suspects, pull some sort of evil coup or something). Think of it as redemption. While he and Harry may still be rivals, perhaps Draco wants to make it up to Harry, since Harry saved his life.

I also wanted to add something in there about the House Elves or other magical creatures or even Muggles and about how they are treated differently, but I couldn't find an appropriate place to fit it. Overall, I think I'm pretty glad with the way this came out. So, considering that this is my first HP piece, please don't flame me. . . and there are probably a couple of continunity mistakes or something, too, but please don't yell at me for it. I tried.


End file.
